Joshua is a wonderful young man with a huge heart who just wants to be a kid like everyone else.

Two-and-a-half years ago Josh started getting migraines which became more frequent and severe over the next 6 months.  Then he started to have minor seizures which led us to an MRI and the discovery of three lesions in the left hemisphere of his brain and the diagnosis: intractable Epilepsy.

We have tried various combinations of anti-seizure medications with some success controlling his seizures, but with considerable side effects.  Some are manageable (appetite, behavioral, weight gain), but others have become debilitating.  Josh developed issues with his eyesight (convergence insufficiency and poor accommodation), his fine motor control (nearly illegible handwriting), and lost a lot of his physical coordination.  In addition, he developed dysnomia (the inability to recall words), memory issues, and has lost nearly all of his ability to read.  He also experienced a severe drug rash that sent him to the ER.

It has become extremely difficult for him to concentrate in class, preventing him from keeping up with daily instruction.  The end result is an extremely frustrated little boy who, at the end of each day is so exhausted that he typically just wants to sleep.  Between this, his medical appointments, and the ongoing severe migraines; Josh frequently misses 1-2 days of school a week.

In the past 2 years, Josh has had (3) MRIs, (6) EEGs, (4) trips to the ER, (4) EKGs, (2) extended hospital stays, full cognitive and behavioral analysis, and countless doctor appointments and blood draws.  He has been as brave and cooperative as can be expected throughout the entire process.  It truly breaks our heart every time we have to tell him it's time for another procedure.

To make school and life easier on Josh, we're attempting a variety of therapy and private tutoring sessions requiring us to travel hundreds of miles a month and take considerable time off work.  We've been working with his school to make accommodations, but concentrating is so hard for him and he is so far behind that at the current pace it is likely to take years to catch up with his classmates, if it all.  In addition to controlling his seizures, Josh needs intensive therapy and tutoring to get past these obstacles and get back to being a normal little boy who loves soccer, building forts, swimming, and building Legos.

As hard as this all has been on our family, it has been compounded by major medical issues with other family members.  Our daughter, Natalie, broke both bones in her lower leg and spent 12 weeks in a full leg cast and wheelchair.

Our oldest son, Jacob, sustained a massive concussion that required him to do therapy (3 times a week), an hour's drive from our home and miss almost 50 days of school.

Lastly, my wife Anna, just got home from a 10 day hospital stay receiving treatment for (4) herniated discs in her lower back.  The road to recovery will be very long.  She is looking at 1 to 2 weeks of bed rest before she can even begin in-home physical therapy.  She will then need extensive outpatient physical therapy to regain her full strength and function and could miss months of work.  I've been forced to take an unpaid leave of absence from work to provide the care she needs to recover.